Another tip: To spread your infantry out even more, spread your line as normal and let the infantry spread out. Once they've found their spot, move the line backwards or forwards just slightly (depending on where the best cover is). Most will stay in their spot but some will follow the line. You can spread your troops out in a 1.5x3 block rather than having a fairly straight line of them. This works especially well in forests.

I'm not a fan of field guns. The AI often moves its tanks enmasse, and rarely in a campaign covering the full war will you (as the allies) get a map with huge open ranges for fire, unless it's the front lines. Thus you'll need to spread out the guns and they'll get overwhelmed.

I much prefer a tank. It doesn't matter that the enemies are probably tougher as you have the element of surprise. You know where their tanks are (and you will know) and you can take them with relative ease so long as you're cautious.

On top of that tanks can be used to assist in areas where your infantry are in trouble.

I don't like more than one flamethrower squad either. If the enemy are swarming the objective the chances are your lines are broken and you're about to lose.

I prefer 1 FG, 1 tank and 1 flame thrower, with plenty of rifle squads, and maybe a HMG if I'm feeling daring, though I've never seen them be that effective... at least, not for cost.

I don't like mortars, but I tend to take one out of habit just for nailing targets that resist everything else.

Ever notice that enemy mortars are uncannily accurate while your guys need 3 ranging shots before they can even hit a target? To make mortars work for you, quit aiming them. Instead place them relatively close to the action and let them select their own targets. They too will become William Tells of the battle field, and you can start mowing down enemy like the Grim Reaper.

Yes, you're absolutely right that mortars are way too accurate when they fire themselves automatically (which is what the enemy always does). I've fixed that problem and it'll be in the next release which should be soon.

I've made some other improvements too which will I'll post up next week...

My fave troops so far are Volksgrenadiers. Cheap, lots of men in the squad and they have those panzerfausts, so every squad has a chance against AFVs. I have done a defence with 6 squads of VGs in forest, in a close double circlearound the flag, and did not move any. They seemed tosurvive bombardment as well as any other way, and they took out the tanks thatstopped on the objective. I reckon that and a flamethrower would be terrific!

when defending use any hill you can deploy your men on. placing them just behind the ridge means the enemy cant direct fire on you and have to push to point blank range before they see you. All you need are recon squads with SMGs and grenades to hold the top of a hill from the reverse side. The enemy will pile up at the top of the hill supressed or be bumped into going round the hill. Either way you end up with concentrated areas on enemy which you can mortar to supress further while you dial your HE arty in. I never sit on top of a hill. Yes you get good fields of view but when outnumbered you'll just be supressed instantly and worn down over time. I also tend to put a full unit of infantry hidden away on eachflank quite deep into no mans land. Once your recon squards defending the revese slopes of the hills get over-run and the enemy pushes through the centre, move these flank forces in behind the enamy and fix them just short of your objective.

I would always have a tank over a field gun IMHO. Sometimes I will have a tank (for tank to tank slug outs) and an APC. My armour starts hidden and i can spot their armour early thanks to my recon squads far forward of my line. I can move my own armour accordingly and ambush the buggers. Even an APC is fantastic in defence because if you've played defence lots (and also attack for that matter) last tank standing wins. Unless your playing late war scenarios and infantry carried anti tank comes into play. But certainly in defence last tank wins, and an APC with an LMG can herd enemy infantry into your kill zones. Also a note on rear hill defence. I have used armour to great effect but keeping them behind the recon squads to sure they up, giving the enemy more time to pile up on the hill top they just cant manage to crest and then swinging my armour round the side and back of the hill back towards my own recon guys. All the enemy on the hill top see the armour coming and run away from it, straight over the hill top and into the recon squads who hose them down with SMG fire.

Flamethrowers are a fantastic last hope to dunk down on the objective you are defending. Never leave home without one. I know lots of people really rate field guns but i would always rather take the tank any day as it can manouver, ambush and sure up threatened parts of the line. Field guns sit there and you just have to hope they dont get knocked out. Plus, where a tank is, infantry refure to go. Charge the buggers and drive them into your infantry. If they are in the open with LMG frie from the armour to their rear and get hit by volleys of rifle fire from their front, all while not being able to fire back as they're running out of the way of the tank you can be pretty sure you'll see white flags popping up. As germans against russians in hilly ground with low ground in the middle i've been able to combine all of the above to smash the popov attack and take 60+ prisoners in the process.